


Secrets to be Kept

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-08 00:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1126294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Journey to the Center of the TARDIS, Clara wants to know why the Doctor is so set on hiding things from her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets to be Kept

**Author's Note:**

> Set immediately after Journey to the Center of the TARDIS and contains massive spoilers for that episode. Also massive spoilers for anything involving Clara Oswald or River Song before that episode.  
> If vehemently opposed to Eleven/Clara, you can probably read their interactions as friendly flirting.  
> Possibly blown to smithereens by Name of the Doctor, but if you've got a clear and definite picture of what every point on River Song's timeline looks like, you're one up on me.

“Did we just?...” The baffled expression did not suit Clara's gorgeous features. _Stop that!_ He chided himself.

“Encounter burning zombie versions of ourselves in the heart of the TARDIS? Prevent the TARDIS from blowing up?” _Tried that; didn't like it_ , he thought. “Rewrite parts of our personal timelines? Yes, yes, aaaannnd...yes.”

“But I can still remember bits of it... Very fuzzily...” Clara had her eyes closed and was rubbing her forehead, and so did not see the flash of anguish across his face. He'd had to wipe one companion's memories against her will before; probably the worst thing he'd ever done to someone. That time he could at least justify it by saying that it was for her own good. This time it would only be to protect his secrets; he didn't know if he could live with himself after that.

“Such as?” he asked hopefully. Already he was reaching, very faintly, into her mind, following the contours of her memory as she struggled to remember. He allowed himself to exhale when he realized that his name was no longer present within her mind: completely erased instead of merely repressed or forgotten.

“You were making an awful big muck about secrets for one thing. Right at the end there...we nearly came to blows, I should think. You might explain a bit now that we aren't about to be turned into walking piles of cinders.”

He let loose another big breath. “Have I told you about my wife? She's a time-traveler too, except we keep meeting out-of-order.”

“I'm somehow not surprised that you haven't mastered the art of coordination.”

“Oi.” His eyes narrowed. “A, I'm a brilliant dancer. B, time-travel is really hard. Anyway, she says we live back to front...it's a bit more complicated than that, but that's a fair approximation. At any rate, sometimes she'll have done things with me that I haven't done yet with her, and vice versa. And so we try to keep secrets from each other. Spoilers, she calls it.” He paused to fiddle with the console. “And so, as long as I still have a secret from her, I haven't lost her.”

“You've seen her die,” Clara intuited.

“The first time I met her.” He did not feel like going into the details. Nor did he say _which is nothing on you, babe_. Twice so far, and almost a third time right away to the Spoonheads. “Not too many blokes get to be widowers before husbands.” He managed a weak laugh.

“And so you associate secrecy with safety,” she continued, ignoring his joke. “What a fascinating delusion.” He harrumphed. “I appreciate that you're trying to keep me safe.” She kissed him on the cheek—his hands only flailed a bit. “Thanks.”


End file.
